Review/Film; Exploring the Underside of the Upper Class

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''That was my body,'' says the voice of the comatose Sunny von Bulow (Glenn Close) on the sound track at the beginning of ''Reversal of Fortune.'' Looking as still as death but serene and, somehow, very rich, she lies in bed in a hospital room, attached to machines that efficiently feed and cleanse her system.

''I never woke from this coma, and never will,'' she goes on. ''I could remain this way for a very long time.'' There is just the slightest hint of a pause, and then the kicker:

''Brain dead and body better than ever.''

This figure of a woman who is alive but not living is the haunted central image of ''Reversal of Fortune,'' the lively, provocative, exquisitely acted screen adaptation of Alan M. Dershowitz's book about high society's real-life von Bulow case. Mr. Dershowitz is the Harvard law professor and aggressive, outspoken lawyer who seems to specialize in unpopular causes. In 1982, after Claus von Bulow had been convicted on two counts of assault with intent to murder his wife, Martha, also called Sunny, Mr. von Bulow hired Mr. Dershowitz to prepare his appeal.

To those who followed the court case only in fits and starts, and even to those who followed it with the delighted fidelity of ''Dallas'' fans, there appeared to be no doubt about Mr. von Bulow's guilt. It was the kind of case to which one really didn't have to pay attention in order to have an informed opinion.

Mrs. von Bulow was immensely rich. Mr. von Bulow wasn't. She was the prototypical American heiress who, like a Henry James heroine, had gone to Europe to find an aristocratic husband.

The first was Prince Alfred von Auersperg, by whom she had two children, and the second was Mr. von Bulow, whose name originally was Claus Borberg but who later took his mother's maiden name. He seems to have adopted the ''von'' at the insistence of his bride when he married Martha Crawford von Auersperg. They had one child. Mr. von Bulow, a well-born Dane, had been brought up in England by his mother after the Germans occupied Denmark during World War II. He went to Cambridge, became an apprentice barrister, moved in society and, at one point, was an aide to J. Paul Getty, the American billionaire.

During the period that ended when his wife went into her second mysterious coma, which turned out to be irreversible, Mr. and Mrs. von Bulow had been talking about divorce, and he was involved in an affair that she knew about. Mr. von Bulow was not famous for his discretion or his common touch. He was reported to be as arrogant and haughty as a middle-European nobleman in a grade-B movie. Before the first trial in Newport, R.I., the script of the case had been written, if not in a court, then in some of the most dearly held assumptions of American literature, from 19th-century novels to 20th-century tabloid journalism and Hollywood movies.

As written by Nicholas Kazan and directed by Barbet Schroeder, the new film is, in the unusual breadth of its concerns, a serious, invigorating American comedy about class, money, greed and, most important, the possibility of justice in the American criminal court system.

What makes it so instructively entertaining is the pivotal character of Claus von Bulow, played by Jeremy Irons within an inch of his professional life. It's a fine, devastating performance, affected, mannered, edgy, though seemingly ever in complete control. Mr. Irons comes very close to being too good to be true.

The accent is upper-class English, perhaps with a touch of Danish still buried within, overlaid with English twit. He seems someone very easy to dismiss, not easy to care about. He's a joke.

When Alan Dershowitz (Ron Silver) goes to meet Claus in his Park Avenue apartment, shortly after the first trial, Claus greets him in the manner of a constitutional monarch putting a new Minister of Fisheries at ease: ''Professor Dershowitz, hello, hello, hello. How good of you to come.''

The entire initial interview is a little unreal. Claus admits that the evidence produced at the trial was damning but, he charmingly reassures Alan: ''I am innocent. You have my word as a gentleman.'' Among the things to which he does admit is that he has tremendous admiration for the Jewish people. Gentlemen's words don't mean much in the world in which Alan practices. Nor, really, does guilt or innocence. Issues of law are the point. Alan isn't the sort of lawyer who becomes friendly with his clients. Nor is he often surprised by them, but it does happen.

Somewhat later Alan makes a perfunctory comment about the severity of Claus's 30-year prison sentence. Claus replies with majesty, ''For a man who twice tried to murder his wife, anything less would be monstrous.''

That line and a number of others come directly from the Dershowitz book, which Mr. Kazan has turned into one of the most satisfying courtroom dramas in years. Forget the trumped-up superficial nonsense of ''Presumed Innocent.'' This ''presumed guilty'' tale is far more rewarding.

In fact, very little of ''Reversal of Fortune'' takes place in a courtroom, though it plays as if it were being put before a judge and jury. The movie, like the book, is the story of how Alan and a large team of assistants, including some of his law students, set about to appeal the first verdict and win a new trial for Claus.

It is fascinating stuff and all the more dramatic because of the ambiguous nature of the defendant. The film wouldn't have half the emotional and intellectual punch if the audience, going in, was already convinced that Claus was nothing more than an aging Peter Pan.

His innocence or guilt is, theoretically anyway, not the film's concern, though the audience probably will come to agree with the findings of his lawyers.

The drama of the film, as of Mr. Dershowitz's book, results from the investigation that reveals the essential sloppiness of so much of the circumstantial evidence that convicted Claus.

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There is the crucial testimony (later found to be in error) of Sunny's dour, possessive German maid, Maria, played by the great Uta Hagen.

It is further found that evidence had been withheld at the first trial and some evidence tampered with, or ''improved,'' by person or persons unknown. Most important are the findings relating to the needle with which Claus is accused of having injected Sunny with a near-lethal shot of insulin.

This is the ''mystery'' part of the film, and it is first-rate, but as Sunny remarks on the sound track, ''It's easy to forget all this is about me.''

That can happen in the course of a criminal trial. The victim is only one piece of evidence among many. It doesn't happen in the film. Though ''Reversal of Fortune'' is a courtroom drama, Mr. Schroeder and Mr. Kazan never forget the time and place that help to shape the events.

The movie can't possibly make use of all of the legal details that give heft to the book, but it presents a witty and vivid picture of the characters and their lives. Even the decision to have the forever-muted Sunny narrate her story works as literary license. It also enriches the portrait of the sad, bemused woman who says: ''I liked to be in bed. I didn't much like anything else.''

The private lives of Sunny and Claus, their children and his lovers are presented with a great deal of care (various laws must be observed) but with a lot of insight. The way the very rich live seems always to be full of surprises, above and beyond those having to do with the consumption of alcohol and drugs.

In one of the flashbacks the audience is treated to the picture of Claus preparing to get into bed with Sunny, who likes the room to be very cold. He wears a wool cap, a sweater, socks and a scarf. At the dinner table Sunny wolfs down not oysters and Champagne but an oversize ice cream sundae.

Beginning with Mr. Irons's, all of the principal performances are terrific, including those of Miss Close, who hovers over the film more often than she is in it, Miss Hagen and Christine Baranski, who plays Claus's second mistress, Andrea Reynolds.

If Mr. Irons's Claus von Bulow gives the film its satiric tone, Mr. Silver's Alan Dershowitz gives it its energy and its singularly tough, unsentimental conscience.

It's easy to accept Mr. Silver as the man who, in his book, admits that access to a lot of money saved Mr. von Bulow. Mr. Dershowitz then adds, ''Reform efforts should be directed not at reducing the justice available to the rich, but at raising the standard of justice for all.''

There is a high degree of sometimes shocking intelligence running through ''Reversal of Fortune.''

It's common to just about all of the films made by Mr. Schroeder, the gifted, not easily categorized French producer and director. Mr. Schroeder's last movie, ''Barfly,'' was set in Los Angeles, on the other side of the American continent, at the other end of the social scale, on Skid Row. ''Reversal of Fortune'' is a perfect American companion piece.

''Reversal of Fortune'' is rated R (''Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian''). It has strong subject matter and some vulgar language.

Directed by Barbet Schroeder; screenplay by Nicholas Kazan, based on the book by Alan M. Dershowitz; director of photography, Luciano Tovoli; edited by Lee Percy; music by Mark Isham; production designer, Mel Bourne; released by Warner Brothers. Running time: 110 minutes. This film is rated R.

Sunny von Bulow....Glenn Close

Claus von Bulow....Jeremy Irons

Alan M. Dershowitz...>Ron Silver

Carol....Annabella Sciorra

Maria....Uta Hagen

David Marriott....Fisher Stevens

Andrea Reynolds....Christine Baranski

A version of this review appears in print on October 17, 1990, on Page C00013 of the National edition with the headline: Review/Film; Exploring the Underside of the Upper Class. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe